Death penalty for Vietnamese American who hid drugs in underwear

Dinh Jason, 41, also known as Dinh Tien Hoang and having American nationality, received the capital punishment on charges of illegally transporting drugs at his trial opened by the HCMC People’s Court on April 22.

Jason arrived at the airport on June 12 last year to take a flight to Australia, but he was arrested after customs officers and security-screening staff found three plastic packs of powder in white, weighing over 1 kilogram, stashed in his underwear. 

The powder was then tested and confirmed to be heroin.

At yesterday’s hearing, Jason told the court that he engaged in transporting drugs to make money to repay a debt of US$20,000 he had accumulated from gambling.

The prosecutor proposed that Jason be sentenced to death, but his lawyer asked the court to give the man a commutation as he committed the offense only because of wanting to get money for debt settlement.

The jury rejected the lawyer’s argument, saying the defendant’s act was very dangerous to society and he deserved the capital sentence.

According to the indictment, Dinh Jason arrived at a casino in Las Vegas, the U.S., in January 2013 for gambling and then lost all the money he had brought with him.

Jason later obtained a loan of $20,000 from a person, Maico, at the casino to continue gambling and then lost the entire sum again.

As Jason failed to pay back his loan, Maico suggested that Jason accompany him on his return to Vietnam, where the Vietnamese American will work for Maico as a way to make up for the unpaid debt.

Jason agreed to the suggestion and he and Maico traveled to Vietnam in June 2013.

Maico then asked Jason to take the three above-mentioned bags of heroin to Australia via Tan Son Nhat, where the Vietnamese American was caught red-handed.